Royal command falls on deaf ears

There are no political banners, no flags bearing party emblems and no campaign posters draped across the thoroughfares of Nepalgunj, a Nepali town on the grassy flatlands abutting India.

Army trucks filled with soldiers in combat fatigues are the only vehicles barrelling through the dusty streets. Apart from the increased army presence, there is little sign that the country is today holding its first elections since King Gyanendra seized power 12 months ago.

Only eight of Nepalgunj municipality's 87 seats have candidates - and all are running unopposed.

The municipal elections, the first in seven years, were promised as a symbolic step towards "real democracy" but have instead exposed the limitations of the king's influence. Across the country there are candidates for less than half of the 4,150 seats in 58 cities and towns.

The king dismissed the elected government and seized power last February, a move he said was needed to end corruption, restore law and order and quell a Maoist insurgency that has claimed more than 12,500 lives in the past decade. Yet the violence and bloodshed have only intensified in the run-up to the polls. Two candidates have been shot, others kidnapped and the homes of putative politicians destroyed.

Last night, four attacks by Maoists across Nepal killed 13 people, including a taxi driver in Kathmandu. In Banke district, of which Nepalgunj is the headquarters, 17 soldiers, guerrillas and civilians have been shot or blown up in the last fortnight.

The fear of being caught between the ballot and the bullet has raised the stakes in the election. More than 600 candidates pulled out after filing their papers while dozens have resigned after being elected unopposed. Alarmed by the withdrawals, the government offered life insurance policies to the candidates. In Nepalgunj, would-be politicians have left town for the safety of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, or gone on "pilgrimage" across the border into India.

"The king probably thought he could follow the example of Afghanistan or Iraq, where elections have been held under the threat of violence," said Dhawal Shumshere Rana, a former mayor of Nepalgunj, whose party shunned the polls. "But he cannot protect the voters or the candidates here. The whole thing has turned out as a joke. I mean, how can one campaign from India?"

Some have defied the Maoist threats, only to find themselves ensconced in army barracks or government offices unable to meet the voters. After the Nepalese army defused a bomb in his home, Surya Bahadur Thapa, a mayoral candidate in neighbouring Dang district, was moved to a heavily guarded municipal building.

"I am not scared of the Maoists but my family are," said Thapa, a retired soldier who served in the Indian army's Gurkha regiment. "I believe that the king is trying to build peace and that it is the people's right to vote. The old political parties were just corrupt and have to be removed."

Gyanendra became king in 2001 after much of the royal family was gunned down, apparently by the then crown prince Dipendra, who turned the weapon on himself. Clever but unpopular, the current king has surrounded himself with cronies and made it clear that the country's politicians have neither his friendship nor confidence.

The seven main political parties, which received 90% of the popular vote in the last parliament, are boycotting the polls that they claim are designed to legitimise the king's rule, marginalise their role and placate foreign donors. Their rejection and a week-long nationwide strike called by the rebels have damaged the poll's credibility. The stoppage has closed schools and businesses, and brought shutters down on most shops. Apart from the odd taxi, traffic has vanished from the country's streets.

Lining the roads out of Nepalgunj are red banners that proclaim an "understanding" between the parties and Maoists, a reference to an agreement that would see the guerrillas give up the gun and enter the political mainstream.

Yesterday the Maoist leader Prachanda surfaced for an interview in which he promised unconditional discussions if the government prepared a new constitution. Surprisingly he raised the possibility that the rebels would accept the king "if the people say we want an active monarch".

Aware that the impending electoral farce will erode royal authority, the government has been quietly manoeuvring to rescue the polls from complete failure. While turnout is expected to be tiny, the royalist administration has instructed all civil servants to vote, in what many observers say is a transparent attempt to bolster polling numbers.

A more blunt and successful strategy has been to impose curfews and lock up political leaders and human rights activists without trial to snuff out opposition from democrats.

Prashant Bist, a student leader in Nepalgunj, said he had twice found himself teargassed, beaten up by armed police and jailed for organising rallies against the king in the past 10 days.

"They come to the campus after we hold protests. They use sticks, fists, teargas, whatever they like. Then they take us away to the police station. Some are released, some are not. Two of my friends have been told they will be kept for three months," said Mr Bist, 27, vice-president of the Free Student Union. "It does not bother us. The king is on the wrong side of history. In two or three years he will be gone."

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for the release of 850 people detained under the public security act for "peacefully expressing their political opinion".

Civil rights campaigners say many of those in custody are being denied medical care and adequate supplies. "We have clients who are not getting clean water, not having access to toilets and some suffering illness who are not receiving medical treatment," said Sushil Lakhe, a human rights lawyer in Nepalgunj. "Without oversight and the rule of law, the army and the king can do what they want."

International analysts say the king should scrap the polls whatever the results, arguing that they will not be free or fair.

"The whole thing is a farce but the king looks like carrying on regardless. It is a big mistake," said Rhoderick Chalmers of the International Crisis Group, a thinktank based in Brussels. He said global patience with the king was wearing thin. Since the coup, the US, Britain and India have cut off military aid to Nepal.

The EU has described the elections as a "backward step for democracy".

Even China, which the king had looked to for support and arms as its relations with its other big neighbour, India, cooled, appears to have changed course.

"Last month Beijing called on 'all parties' to narrow their differences through dialogue. It's a seismic shift for the Chinese," said Mr Chalmers. "The signal to the king from the international community is that outside support is not unconditional and he could be dumped."

Backstory

Nepal's year of anarchy began last February when King Gyanendra grabbed power, toppling elected politicians. To the 27 million Nepalis, he promised to end the civil war, crush the Maoists and return the country to democracy in 100 days. Instead there was chaos, with 430 journalists arrested and more than 1,608 people killed in violence between Maoists and the government. Today's polls are the first since the general election of 1999. The Himalayan state is the world's 12th poorest, with monthly income averaging £14. It is feared the economy is heading for bankruptcy, and the budget shortfall this year is estimated at £126m. With the World Bank and IMF refusing to lend more, economists say the country is in for a hard landing.

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